jdreyer wrote on Feb 11, 2022, 15:30:

Mr. Tact wrote on Feb 11, 2022, 12:10:
Ruined seems a bit strong seeing as:

The painting is being restored, the damage, according to the restoration expert at State Tretyakov Gallery, can be eliminated without any long-term damage to the artwork.

My local museum has an original Van Gogh. Some kid poked a hole in it with a pencil. Now it's in a glass case, however I was able to view it before they put it in a case. It was awesome to see the 3D-ness of it, as the paint was layered on quite thickly. A shame we can't have nice things. I'm willing to bet vodka was involved with this damage.

I was utterly amazed at how many paintings of great value were not ensconced behind glass in my tour of the world's great museums. Only the hyper valuable stuff is so protected. And it wasn't so much I was amazed because people might damage them so much as protecting them from the heat and humidity and dust of all the people in said museums. The real annoying thing is how most of the protected works were in reflective glass making it much harder to view or take snaps of because of the overhead lighting.

Btw, I've uploaded all my snaps of Europe to Google Photos. They're not in order or titled properly yet but if you'd like to see them I can upload the links if anyone cares to view Europe and it's art. Here's Venice including my shots from Peggy Guggenheim's museum, including Jackson Pollock's Alchemy because you mentioned you love that piece.